


all the answers were there (we just didn't know where to look)

by widmung



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, Living Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29201187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/widmung/pseuds/widmung
Summary: “Guys.” Hyunjin frowns from where he’s standing, his bags by his feet. “Why is the door to my bedroom locked?”Chan pops his head from the kitchen when he heard Hyunjin’s voice, brows furrowed. “Don’t you guys usually lock that?"“Well yeah, but only if someone’s inside. We don’t even have the keys!” Hyunjin turns to Chan and gives him a questioning look. “Are you sure Seungmin and Minho hyung aren’t home yet?”
Relationships: Kim Seungmin/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 40
Kudos: 270





	all the answers were there (we just didn't know where to look)

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! here is my measly offering for the 2min community <3 im not entirely sure if i did a good job but i did have a lot of fun writing this and 2min are my favorite people in the entire world so.... anyway this isn't edited bcos i suck at editing my works so im sorry if there are any mistakes! i hope someone likes it <3

Days like this make Chan regret his decision to stay in a sharehouse instead of getting an apartment of his own.

It's almost the end of midterm week, and he stayed up all night trying to finish the last track he needed to submit that's due the next day. He managed to finish it at 6 in the morning – 2 hours early! A new record! – and practically threw his laptop off the bed before promptly falling asleep, with no plans on waking up anytime soon.

It hasn't even been a few hours since he fell asleep when he was woken up by two people screaming.

Chan mentally prepares himself for what's to come. He really didn't want to get out of bed yet but he also has a responsibility to make sure none of his housemates kill each other. He gets down from the top bunk of his bed as carefully as possible so Changbin won't wake up from the bottom bunk.

Too late. Changbin is already sitting up even before Chan's feet find the ground. Felix is awake too, rubbing sleep out of his eyes from the opposite bed.

"Hyung." Changbin asks, his voice drunk from sleep. "What time is it?"

Chan just tries to get Changbin back into bed. "Too early. Try and get back to sleep." He turns to Felix who is looking at him with a confused look. "You too. I'll check on what's happening outside."

He takes a few steps outside his bedroom to locate where the yelling is coming from. Finds Jeongin sitting on the sofa in the living room by myself, rubbing his temples while nursing a cup of coffee.

"It's Seungmin hyung and Minho hyung." Of course it is. Who else would be waking up their entire neighbourhood at this hour? Jeongin makes a vague gesture to the kitchen. "I think it's about Minho hyung's protein shake or something."

Chan immediately runs to the kitchen and finds two staring each other down. Minho looked absolutely livid, his fists clenched on his side as he tried to control his breathing. Seungmin is sitting at the dining table mid packing his lunchbox, Chan notices his hands shaking from steps away.

"Guys." Chan begins, gently approaching them. This isn't the first time Minho and Seungmin fought and it certainly won't be the last. Chan knew from past experience that he should cautiously approach the two when they're mid-fight in order to ensure that no one gets physically hurt. "What happened?"

Minho just glares at him. "He drank my protein shake."

"I told you that I was sorry!" Seungmin slams his hands at the table so hard that even Minho was a little startled. "I was tired and hungry last night that I didn't notice it was yours!"

"You could've just told me last night that you drank it! We're literally roommates! I could've left early and got something else for breakfast but I didn't and now I'm gonna be late for my exam _and_ hungry!"

Chan rubs his eyes. It's way too early for this. "Minho. Seungmin said he was sorry. I think I have a sandwich in the fridge, you can eat it for breakfast instead." He goes a little closer. "Can we all stop yelling now? It's midterm week and everyone's exhausted.

For a minute, Minho's face softened before it lost all emotion completely. He gives Seungmin one last cold glare before promptly leaving the kitchen. Chan hears a little rustling, presumably of Minho grabbing his bag and putting his shoes on, before he hears the door slam.

Chan just sighs and turns to Seungmin who resumed to packing his lunchbox with a blank expression. He didn't even spare Chan a glance before he heads to the living room to get his backpack, goes to put his shoes on and heads out.

Chan just sighs and goes back to bed. He'll deal with those two later. Right now, he needs some shut eye before he actually ends up passing out in exhaustion.

Later, after Chan leaves his bedroom to look for something to eat after he wakes up again (on his own accord this time). It was late afternoon – he slept practically the whole day – and the house was pretty quiet.

There's no one in the living room and there's no yelling coming from the bedrooms or anywhere in the house, so he assumes that everyone's still out. He goes to fix himself a quick meal to eat in his bedroom while he starts on the essays that he needs to submit by midnight.

Before he could get to his bedroom though, he stops in his tracks right in front of one of the bedrooms. He recognizes it as Seungmin, Hyunjin and Minho's shared bedroom. The door was shut, but he could hear someone mumbling. He vaguely makes out Seungmin's voice as he asks someone if they can hear them. Chan assumes he's on the phone.

“I’m really sorry, baby.”

Chan freezes. _Baby?!_

“It’s not your fault, I really should have told you beforehand.” A pause. Chan hears a laugh and some rustling, like Seungmin’s moving around the bed. “Have you eaten yet? I’m still at home. No no, I’ll just come to the restaurant. The others are home. Alright, I’ll just grab my stuff and go. See you. Yeah. I love you too.”

There’s more rustling, the sound of Seungmin getting off the bed. Chan practically sprints to his bedroom. After putting his food on his desk, he casually opens his bedroom door and steps outside.

"Oh hi hyung, you're up already." Seungmin's putting his shoes on, ready to leave. "I'm sorry about earlier by the way."

Chan almost forgot about the incident in the morning. "It's fine, it's not like it's the first time anyway. I'm sure everyone's already used to it."

"Still." Seungmin lets out a small laugh as he stands up, dusting off his clothes. "I'm gonna get dinner with a friend. I'll probably be home late so don't bother waiting up for me."

Chan just gives him a nod as he heads to the kitchen to grab a can of soda, he forgot to grab one earlier. He hears Seungmin leave as he goes back to his bedroom, sits on his desk and starts eating his food with a frown on his face. He can't stop thinking about the phone call he overheard.

Unbeknownst to Chan, his phone vibrates with a text notification from his bed.

_from: lee minho_

_i have dinner plans tonight. don't wait up_

* * *

Changbin was confused to say the least.

He had a quiz tomorrow for one of his technical subjects, and he asked Minho to tutor him because he can’t understand shit. Changbin ended up coming to the little spot at the open grounds he and his housemates frequent during free periods, expecting to find Minho sprawled on a blanket reading a book or playing violin to pass the time. Instead he finds Minho sprawled on a blanket with Seungmin, the latter laughing so hard he’s on the brink of falling over while the former is holding his bow and violin, looking like he's contemplating poking the latter's eyes out with the bow.

"Um." Changbin clears his throat, not knowing how to approach the two who look like they're in the middle of…. whatever it is that they are doing. "Hyung?"

Minho looks up so fast his neck makes a cracking sound. Seungmin does end up falling over from laughing, and Minho just motions Changbin to sit while he puts his bow and violin back in the safety of the case.

"So." Minho turns to Changbin, completely ignoring Seungmin who is still laughing on the ground. "Mechanics?"

Changbin just nods and pulls out his notes. Living at the sharehouse for over three years and being friends with Minho for over seven has made him somewhat immune to Minho's antics. He silently hands Minho the coffee he bribed him in exchange for the tutoring, sets his own cup down by his legs.

Seungmin finally stops laughing and sits up, wiping the tears from his eyes as he looks at the cup of coffee both he and Minho were donning. "None for me?"

"I didn't even know you'd be here." Changbin doesn't miss a beat as he hands his notes to Minho, pointing out the topics he's confused about. "Why are you here anyway?"

Seungmin just shrugs and promptly lies back down and put his legs on Minho's lap, using his arm to cover his eyes from the glare of the sun. Minho doesn't even blink as he pushes Seungmin’s legs off and proceeds to look over the topics Changbin pointed out. Seungmin just chuckles under his breath but keeps his legs away from Minho’s lap. 

Thirty minutes of gruesome tutoring later, Changbin feels a little more confident. Minho has this uncanny ability of making complicated problems seem easy, and he's a thousand times better at teaching than his actual professor. Changbin's pretty sure he's learned more from his mini tutoring sessions with Minho than his actual lectures.

Seungmin goes to stand up. "As much as I'd love to stay here and annoy you guys, I still have assignments to do so I'll go on ahead."

Changbin doesn't even look up from the practice problems that he's doing, afraid that if he stops mid-solving he will never be able to solve the problem ever. "Bye, Minnie. Take care."

"Try not to get hit by a bus or something on the way home. It'd be too much of a hassle for us to organize your funeral." Changbin assumes Seungmin had kicked Minho for that comment and then ran off before Minho could kill him.

The sun starts to set and Changbin takes it as their cue to go home, goes to start packing his stuff. Not even three full hours of studying with Minho and he’s already confident that he's gonna ace this quiz tomorrow. Minho starts to fold the blanket when Changbin notices.

"Where's your violin?"

"Hm?" Minho hums and packs the blanket into his backpack with his other stuff, not even sparing Changbin a glance. "Seungmin probably took it home when he left earlier."

That's odd. Minho never lets anyone touch his violin. "Why?"

"Why not?"

Changbin just stares at him as Minho stands up and starts to walk, leaving Changbin no choice but to follow. "Hyung, you never let anyone touch your violin."

Minho just shrugs like it isn't a big deal. As if he didn't get into a huge fight with Hyunjin last year when he moved Minho's violin so he can reach their shared closet without tripping over it. As if Changbin didn't get yelled at when he was hanging out in Minho's bedroom in high school and he grabbed the violin and asked Minho if he could play.

In all the years that Changbin has known Minho, he has never let anyone touch his violin. Minho was continuously belittled by his parents for wanting to pursue a career in violin, and gets very defensive when the topic of violin comes up. He’s worked so hard to even be able to keep playing violin as a hobby – promising his parents that he’d get perfect grades as long as he gets to keep his violin – and never lets anyone touch his instrument, too afraid that they would take it away.

Changbin is curious as to how Seungmin became allowed to not only touch Minho’s violin, but to even take it home with him on his own.

"He was going home anyway, he might as well bring it so I would have less stuff to carry." Minho's voice sounds fond, and he has the ghost of a smile on his face. "So what are you gonna buy me for dinner?"

* * *

Sunday was considered their cleaning day.

It's the only day none of them has classes or work and they all take the time to clean the entire house together. Afterwards they gather around the living room and watch a movie or drama while eating takeout. It’s been their tradition ever since they moved in together, and it’s how they formed such a strong friendship.

Everyone has their designated tasks for the day, and Hyunjin is assigned to clean the refrigerator. With how busy their schedules are with college and part time jobs, they often forget to throw away spoiled food. They made sure to clean their refrigerator every week ever since Changbin knocked over a carton of spoiled milk that Jisung forgot to throw away while he was looking for something to eat at night. It took weeks before their refrigerator started smelling like a refrigerator again.

Hyunjin was in the process of checking to see what food needs to be thrown away when someone sprayed water on his hair. He frowns and looks up to see Seungmin and Minho squabbling over the sink. The two of them were supposed to be washing the dishes but instead are spraying water and soap on each other.

“Can’t you rinse a little slower?!” Minho whined. Seungmin was rinsing the already washed dishes and Minho was drying them. “My arms hurt from trying to keep up!”

Seungmin just snorted under his breath and continued to rinse the dishes. “Not my fault you’re slow.”

“Are you even rinsing them properly?”

“Stop trying to piss me off!”

“Stop rinsing the dishes so fast then!”

Water was spraying everywhere. The dishes were left ignored to soak in the sink while Minho and Seungmin continued to bicker while spraying water onto each other, their voices getting louder and louder. Minho’s shirt was soaked and Seungmin’s hair was starting to stick on his head, the floor was getting increasingly wet as well.

“Minho hyung! Kim Seungmin!” Hyunjin yelled from his spot on the floor, trying to cover his head from the splashing water. “Stop it! The floor’s getting wet!”

The two boys just ignored him. Their bickering got so loud that the others went to the kitchen to see what’s happening. Felix came out of the bathroom that he’s cleaning, took a look at Minho and Seungmin and promptly went back in. Hyunjin could hear him telling Jeongin – they’re both on bathroom duty – that “Hyungs are just fighting again, nothing new.”

“Guys!” Chan finally yelled, coming out of the bedroom. “Aren’t you supposed to be washing the dishes?”

Minho turned to Chan with a smile on his face, pointing to his soaked shirt and shorts. “It’s Seungmin’s fault!”

“What are you talking about? You started it!” Seungmin replied indignantly, pinching Minho’s arm. “You started it!”

“Maybe if you rinsed the dishes slower!”

“Maybe if _you_ dried faster!”

“Maybe if-”

“Guys!” Chan cut them off, rubbing his eyes. “Go get changed first. When you come back you can change the pillow sheets of the cushions and finish cleaning the living room, I’ll take over the rest of your dishes. Jisung, go and help Changbin in cleaning the bedrooms instead.”

Jisung nodded and scurried off, not wanting to be a part of this. Seungmin just took off his gloves and stormed off, not before glaring at Minho. Minho just laughed and shook some of the water from his hair before following Seungmin to their shared bedroom.

Minho came out a few minutes later wearing dry clothes and grabbed the vacuum cleaner, he had a blank expression on his face but his ears were bright red. Seungmin follows suit, carrying new pillow sheets with a smug smile on his face.

Hyunjin turned back to wiping the refrigerator with a confused frown. Did they fight again?

By late afternoon, their house was sufficiently cleaner than it was in the morning, and everyone had already gathered in the living room. Hyunjin, Changbin, Felix and Jeongin share the big couch, arms around each other and legs tangled together. Chan and Changbin were cuddled up in the loveseat, the latter in the former’s lap. And Minho and Seungmin were sitting on the floor.

Jisung was in charge of the movie tonight, and everyone passes food and utensils around while he scrolls through Netflix. Hyunjin grabs a carton of fried rice with chicken to himself, starts picking out the vegetables that he doesn’t like and putting it on Jeongin’s own selection of stir fried noodles. He settles down on the couch, listening to his housemates talk to each other while he waits for Jisung to pick a movie.

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Seungmin and Minho speaking in hushed tones. That’s weird, those two are always yelling whenever they’re talking to each other. Hyunjin tunes everyone out and focuses on Seungmin and Minho’s conversation.

Minho wordlessly grabs a few pieces of pork belly and puts it on Seungmin’s container of rice. Seungmin stares at him with a questioning look on his face, and Minho just shrugs. “You said you’ve been craving pork belly.”

“Oh. Right.” Seungmin nods and goes back to unwrapping some of the side dishes. He gestures to a container filled with a rolled omelet. “I got the one with mushrooms and cheese that you like.”

Minho grabs a piece and takes a bite, nodding with satisfaction. “This store puts a lot of mushrooms in their rolled omelets, it’s so tasty.”

“That’s why I ordered from there.” Seungmin rolls his eyes and looks around the table. “Did you get anything to drink?”

“Oh. Hold on.” Minho sets his food down and heads to their kitchen. He comes back with two bottles of what looks like fruit smoothies and hands one to Seungmin.

Seungmin opens the bottle and takes a sip, humming appreciatively. “Is this from the cafe-”

“-near the gym. I stopped by last night after working out and got us some.”

“I seriously don’t understand how their smoothies are so good when it’s so healthy. It feels like I’m being scammed.”

Minho chuckles under his breath and nudges him to be quiet. Jisung already picked a movie, an action thriller that came out recently. Seungmin immediately stops talking and grabs another piece of rolled omelet to put on Minho’s plate.

Hyunjin remembered next to nothing about the movie, his eyes stuck on the way Seungmin and Minho were leaning towards each other as they ate.

* * *

It’s no secret that Jisung does not like waking up early.

He enjoys his sleep and has declared multiple times that his bed is his favorite place in the world. He sleeps at ungodly hours too, not as bad as Chan, but still pretty late. The earliest he’s woken up when he doesn’t have morning classes is at noon.

Unfortunately, Jisung did have an 8am today. He spent the morning walking around the house, complaining very loudly about how he barely got to sleep last night as he got ready. Jeongin had enough and threw a pillow at him before stomping out of their shared bedroom, Jisung cackling from where he was sitting on his desk and putting on his earrings.

He hears someone knocking at the door and turns around to see Minho looking at him with a bored expression.

“You wanna get coffee before heading to campus? Jeongin was supposed to go with me but you pissed him off and he already left”

Jisung just laughs and nods, turning back to the mirror on his desk. “Sorry for that. But sure, I'll get coffee with you. Let me just finish this.”

Later, Jisung finds himself in a cafe near their campus. He steps out of Minho's car and looks around, as Minho leads him through small alleys, unsure as to how Minho found this place since it's not on the main road and is pretty hidden. Finally, they stop in front of a small cafe that is tucked between a bookstore and a computer shop.

Minho doesn't even bother to check if Jisung's still following him before he opens the door and enters the cafe, Jisung scurrying along not far back. He's immediately greeted by the smell of freshly brewed coffee and the sound of soft classical music playing in the background.

He follows Minho to the counter and eyes the pastries on display, the blueberry cheesecake looking extra delicious even when he knows he shouldn't eat something so sweet this early. Minho doesn't even bother asking him what he wants before he orders two large iced americanos and a medium iced latte.

Jisung gives Minho a questioning look, confused at the extra drink. "Who's the latte for?"

"Someone cranky in the morning." Minho shrugs and points to the cake display. "Do you want the cheesecake?"

Jisung just nods excitedly, aware that Minho always pays whenever he invites someone out and he would very much like to take advantage of that. Minho orders a slice of the blueberry cheesecake and two bagels to go.

"So." Jisung looks around and takes in the calming atmosphere of the cafe. It's quiet except for the sound of the flute and harp playing through the speakers. The cafe was almost empty save for the few people coming in to order, leaving immediately after they get their coffee. "How did you find this place?"

Minho shrugs again as he frowns at his phone, typing a quick text before locking it and placing it on the table. "A senior recommended it to me. I like it here better than most cafes since it's quieter and you can get a lot more studying here compared to the library. The coffee is really good too, and they always have a wide assortment of pastries."

"It's really nice." Jisung comments, still taking in the surroundings. He'll probably come here if he needs to study, it’s really hard to focus at their house and he hates going to the university library.

Minho's phone starts to ring. Jisung gets a quick glance at the contact name and only gets to see _Kim_ before Minho picks up the phone to answer the call.

"I already texted you that I got the coffee. Why the fuck are you calling me?" Minho pauses before rolling his eyes, the ghost of a smile on his lips. "You're such a drama queen. Why are you blaming me for your poor life decisions? If you don't hang up right now I'll pour your latte down the-"

Minho puts the phone back down, satisfied at how the conversation ends. The part timer calls Minho's name and he goes over to get their orders, comes back and hands Jisung his coffee and cheesecake and motions for him to stand up so they can leave. All the while muttering under his breath about god knows what.

Jisung is so confused.

They arrive at campus and Jisung waits for Minho to get out of his car so they can walk together, the latter grabbing his bag from the backseat.

"You go on ahead." Minho waves him off as he shuts the car door. Not even glancing at Jisung as he gets his phone from his pocket and texts someone. "I need to meet someone."

Jisung frowns, because the liberal arts building and the engineering building are on their way to each other. It wouldn’t make sense for Minho to go on a detour since it’s almost 8 and he’ll be late for class if he doesn’t head to the building now. He doesn't even have the time to ask him who he's meeting because Minho practically sprints out of the parking lot.

Jisung is not entirely sure what’s going on but starts walking. His class is on the sixth floor and he's pretty sure that the elevator is packed, and that he should probably start running. But he sees Minho run in the direction of the communication arts building, and Jisung's even more confused when he thinks about who Minho knows well enough in the communication arts department to buy them coffee, who may or may not have the last name Kim.

He’s pretty familiar with the majority of Minho’s friends, but the only person who fits the criteria is Seungmin, who is majoring in film. He's so lost in thought that he almost bumps into someone, his mind going haywire with the thought that it's Wednesday. Minho’s first class doesn’t start until noon, and Seungmin has a 7am.

* * *

The oven timer beeps and Felix goes to take out the brownies out of the oven. He carefully sets the tray on the counter to let them cool, and goes back to packing the cookies he made earlier into tupperware containers.

It was a rare Saturday afternoon where Felix had nothing to do. He didn’t have classes or shifts for today and he already wrapped up the plates that he needed to submit for the week. Instead of catching up on sleep like he probably should do, he busies himself with baking for his housemates.

He just finished packing the last of the cookies when Seungmin entered the kitchen. His hair was all over the place and his face was all puffy from sleep. Felix took a look at the clock by their refrigerator to see that it’s almost 3pm.

“Good morning, Seungminnie.” Felix chirps and Seungmin just gives a small grunt in response, heading straight for the cupboards. “Did you just wake up?”

Seungmin fills a pot with water and sets it on the stove, opens two packs of ramen and pours the seasoning into the pot. “Yeah. I stayed up late last night editing this video for my class.” He opens the refrigerator to grab two eggs and a container of kimchi. “Is anyone else home?”

“Jeongin’s finishing up a plate in his bedroom. Changbin hyung left just a while ago for his shift.” The brownies have cooled so he goes to start packing them as well.

Seungmin nods and starts finishing up his ramen, cutting up the green onions and cracking the eggs. Felix glances at the huge portions and wonders if Seungmin’s eating with someone or is just starving.

As if on cue, Minho enters the kitchen looking exhausted. His face was pale and the bags under his eyes were terribly prominent. He takes a seat on the kitchen table and sets a coaster down just as Seungmin came over with the pot of ramen.

Felix continues with packing his baked goods, his hands focused on his task but his actual attention was on the pair eating lunch. From what Felix had observed throughout the time they lived together, Seungmin and Minho had a weird concept of hating each other and bickering to no end. He’s pretty sure that it’s just a concept because one of them had probably moved out already if they actually did hate each other, but it’s still foreign to see them spend time together without their other housemates.

“Ah, Kim Seungmin!” Minho whines, and Felix sees him pout at the pot of ramen from the corner of his eye. “Why did you put eggs? I didn’t want any today.”

Felix hears Seungmin sigh. “You literally just said to put eggs when I asked you if you wanted ramen.”

“When did I say that?”

“Earlier before I left the bedroom!”

“I didn’t say that! I said to _not_ put any eggs!”

“That is definitely not what you said!”

“Are you making me out to be a liar or something?”

“Oh my god.” Felix tries his best to not get in between them. He’s known from past experience that it’s easier to just let those two bicker away instead of trying to stop them. “Stop complaining and eat. You haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

Seungmin stands up to go to the refrigerator, comes back to the table with a bottle of plum tea. He grabs a glass and pours some sticky syrup before filling the rest of the glass with water. Minho paused from shoving noodles in his mouth to accept the glass of plum tea and take a sip.

The two of them went quiet after that, the kitchen filled with nothing but the noise of them slurping their ramen and Felix moving around the kitchen. With a sigh that Seungmin and Minho finally reached their fighting quota for the day, he sets aside the containers filled with baked goods and goes to start washing the dishes.

“Are you gonna continue studying after this? Can’t you take a nap first?”

Felix hears the clanging of chopsticks, and notices that they’ve finished eating. Minho sipped his tea while Seungmin was fiddling with empty glass. “I still have a few problem sets left. I’ll take a nap after I’ve finished them.”

“Hyung.” Seungmin nagged from the other side of the table and Felix’s eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead. He’s always known Seungmin to be a little bossy when it comes to resting, but he doesn’t think he’s ever heard him tell Minho to take a break. “You’ve been studying non-stop since last night.”

“I took a nap this morning!”

“And you still look terrible!” Seungmin’s voice gets louder and Felix thinks they’re gonna start fighting again. There’s a pause before Seungmin starts talking again, voice softer. “Come on, hyung. You’re still gonna be the top student in your year if you take a quick nap. You’re gonna collapse at this rate.”

Felix pauses from scrubbing a bowl to take a deep breath. He’s definitely never heard Seungmin sound so tender before, especially not with Minho of all people.

“Fine.” Minho grunts after a few moments. “But you have to wake me up before dinner! I have so much shit to do.”

Seungmin just laughed and stood up, gathering the dishes they used. “Of course, but you need to eat dinner first.” Felix hears a whine escape Minho’s throat before Seungmin cuts him off. “Go take a nap, I’ll clean up.”

Felix hears the chair scraping against the floor, the door to the kitchen opening and closing. Seungmin comes over to where he stood at the sink, still scrubbing at the dishes. He forgot to soak the bowl that he used for the cookie dough and the stuff just won’t come off.

“Just leave them there, Minnie.” He waves Seungmin off, gesturing to the spoons and measuring cups he has yet to wash. “I’ll be here for awhile anyway.”

Seungmin wraps him in a backhug. “Thanks, Felix. You’re the best.”

As Seungmin skips over to his shared bedroom with Minho, Felix can’t stop thinking about the conversation he overheard. He remembers Minho coming home late last night, not even looking at or speaking to anyone as he headed straight for his bedroom. Changbin mentioned something about the deadlines of some assignments being pushed up from where they were lying on the couch, and Minho’s probably pissed because he hasn’t started on them yet and now he needs to cram them.

He vaguely remembers Seungmin heading to the kitchen while he and Changbin and Jeongin were playing games on the playstation, and going back to the bedroom with a steaming mug of what smelled like coffee in his hands. Felix thought it was a little odd, because Seungmin doesn’t like to drink coffee at night, but didn’t think much about it.

Felix thinks of the bags under Minho’s eyes and Seungmin’s soft voice telling him to get some rest as he goes to wash the pot they used for ramen.

* * *

Jeongin wanted nothing more than to go home and take a well deserved nap.

It's been a long week, the amount of plates that needed to be submitted seemed neverending. Jeongin thought that he could relax a bit since he's only in his first year, but he was so wrong. He barely has any time to breathe after finishing a plate because there's another one lined up. Thankfully, his next plate is not due for another two weeks so he can slack off for a few days before he enters another door to hell.

The sun was low on the horizon, just on the verge of setting. Jeongin turned around a corner as he approached the bus stop, his hands in his pockets and his mind conflicted with the thought of whether he should eat dinner first before going to sleep or vice versa. As the bus the stop came closer in his view, he noticed two familiar figures arguing as they waited for the bus to arrive.

“You really should’ve put pain relief patches if they hurt so much, hyung.” Even from a few meters away, Jeongin could still make out Seungmin’s voice. His head was turned to the side and a frown framed his face. 

The figure beside him had his back turned from Jeongin, but he could easily tell it was Minho when he replied, “I already said it doesn’t hurt _that_ much. I’m already done with my work anyways so I can take my time resting when we get home.”

“As if you’re not gonna get a head start on next week’s homework-”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a good student, Seungminnie-”

Their voices were getting louder and louder. Jeongin noticed some of the other people at the bus stop keeping their distance from the pair, afraid to be caught in the crossfire.

“God, you’re so infuriating. Can you even call yourself a good student if you keep-”

Jeongin arrived before Seungmin could do something stupid like push Minho onto oncoming traffic. “Hyung?”

"Jeonginnie." Seungmin met his gaze and his voice immediately softened. “Are you heading home?”

At the sound of Seungmin calling his name, Minho immediately turned around. He had his usual i-don’t-want-to-be-here face, one hand clutching the strap of his bag and the other holding a half empty bottle of water, which he offered to Jeongin with a nod.

Jeongin gratefully accepts the bottle and gulps the remaining water down, not realizing how thirsty he was. He always forgot to bring water whenever he went to school, and Minho always offered him a sip of his whenever they ran into each other on campus."

"Yeah, I just got out of my last class." Jeongin replies after finishing Minho’s water, the older grabbing the bottle from him and throwing it into the nearest trash can. “How about you guys? Why are you going home together?”

He didn't miss the way Minho's ears turned pink despite his face remaining carefully blank. Seungmin just laughs and elbows Minho's side, shifting his hold on the camera bag slung along his shoulder.

"I had to take photos for an event for Minho hyung's department and I ran into him there." Seungmin replies, and Jeongin would've believed him if he didn't notice how Minho's ears were spotting a dark red color. "Thought we could go home together since…. Well, we live together."

The bus arrived before Jeongin could call them out on the fact that the Engineering department had their own photographers. It wouldn't make sense for Seungmin, a film major, to take photos for an event at a department that wasn't his own. He climbs into the bus and taps his card, only to notice that the bus was completely packed and there were only two seats left.

Jeongin wastes no time to grab the last seats, sits himself at the one by the window. Seungmin is practically pushed into the seat next to him, the boy letting out a surprised grunt before glaring at the one who pushed him. Minho just stands next to him, holding onto the railing to steady himself while grinning at Seungmin.

Exhaustion was starting to creep up on him, and Jeongin’s eyes felt heavy so he thought of taking a quick nap until they got home since his hyungs were with him and they could wake him up when they arrived. He had already put on his earphones and was just about to open his music library, his thumb hovering over the app on his phone when he noticed that Seungmin still had his head turned towards Minho.

“Hyung, you said your back was hurting. You should sit here instead.” Seungmin whispers just as the bus started to move, his voice laced with worry.

“It doesn’t really hurt that much anymore. Just sit, you’re pretty tired from all the photos you took.”

“Hyung.” Seungmin whines and Jeongin can practically hear the pout in his voice. “At least let me hold your bag.”

Minho rolls his eyes and is just about to hand Seungmin his bag when the bus lurches forward. He momentarily loses his footing, and Jeongin doesn’t miss the way Seungmin immediately moves to steady him, his hand immediately reaching for Minho’s arm to keep him from falling over.

Jeongin’s eyes practically bulge out of his head when he sees that Seungmin had accidentally grabbed Minho’s hand instead. What’s even more baffling is that Minho wasn’t throwing a fit, instead letting Seungmin maneuver him by the hand until he finds his footing again. A scream threatens to come out of Jeongin’s throat when notices that Minho didn’t immediately let go of Seungmin’s hand once he found his footing, opting instead to let their joined hands fall to his side.

The bus ride goes smoothly after that. Jeongin does end up turning away from his housemates and turns on his music. He closes his eyes and tries and fails to get some shut eye, his mind still stuck on Minho and Seungmin holding hands throughout the entire bus ride.

* * *

It all comes to head at the night before the start of a new semester. Everyone just came back from their hometowns during the break, and they were all planning to have dinner together.

“Honey, I’m home!” Hyunjin screams from the doorway while toeing his shoes off. Jisung merely grunts in response, too focused on beating Changbin and Jeongin in Mario Kart. Hyunjin pouts as he drags his bags inside, “Can you guys at least say hi to me?”

A chorus of mangled greetings came from the couch and Hyunjin just rolled his eyes, not expecting much from his housemates. Their Mario Kart competitions were always so intense. Hyunjin is just about to head to his bedroom when Felix comes barreling into his arms with a scream, both of them stumbling to stay upright.

“Welcome home, Jinnie!” Felix says from where his head was hooked on Hyunjin’s shoulder. “Channie hyung and I are almost done with dinner.”

Hyunjin merely laughs and pats Felix’s back as they pull away. He can already feel the exhaustion from the train ride slowly melt away and be replaced with warmth and comfort. Felix just has that effect on people.

“Where’s Seungminnie and Minho hyung? Are they not home yet?” Hyunjin asks as he drags his bags to the bedroom.

Felix merely shrugs, already heading back to the kitchen. “They haven’t texted yet, and no one’s seen them all day so I doubt they’re home.”

That’s odd. Seungmin usually comes back to the share house early because he doesn’t like travelling when it’s dark out. Minho usually arrives late because he tries to make the most of his visit home to spend time with cats, but he always comes back before sunset.

“Guys.” Hyunjin frowns from where he’s standing, his bags by his feet. “Why is the door to my bedroom locked?”

Chan pops his head from the kitchen when he heard Hyunjin’s voice, brows furrowed. “Don’t you guys usually lock that?”

“Well yeah, but only if someone’s inside. We don’t even have the keys!” Hyunjin turns to Chan and gives him a questioning look. “Are you sure Seungmin and Minho hyung aren’t home yet?”

Chan just runs into his own bedroom in lieu of answering Hyunjin’s question. A few moments later, he comes out holding a set of keys in his hands. He brushes through the keys before holding one aside and hands it to Hyunjin. “Here. That door’s been locked ever since we arrived earlier, and I thought you guys locked it before you left. And I’m not really sure if Seungminnie and Minho are home-”

He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before Hyunjin finally unlocks the door, Chan’s mouth snapping shut as Hyunjin just blinks at the sight in front of them.

A scream rings through the sharehouse a minute later.

Felix almost trips with how fast he ran out of the kitchen. Their game of Mario Kart was temporarily forgotten as Jisung and Changbin immediately ran over to where Hyunjin was still screaming, Jeongin trailing a little bit behind. Chan isn’t even speaking, but he does try to cover Hyunjin’s mouth before their neighbors start throwing rocks at their windows for being so loud this late.

A pillow is thrown in their direction, and they are met with Minho glaring at them from where he was sitting up on his bed. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and the blanket was pooled around his waist when he sat up. There was an arm around his waist, the unmistakable figure of Seungmin – who was at least donning a shirt – burrowing himself in MInho’s side.

“Can you guys tone it down, please?” Minho rubs his hand over his face, looking like he’s two seconds away from shoving every single one of them in the air fryer. Hyunjin whimpered and hid behind Chan. “We were trying to sleep.”

There was silence for a bit before Chan spoke up. “When did you guys get home?”

“We got back in the morning. Around 9 or 10? I’m not really sure.” Seungmin chose that moment to start stirring. Minho hurries to pat the arm that was around his waist, gesturing for Seungmin to sleep some more.

Jeongin swallows down a wail. “Were you guys in here the whole time?”

“Did you guys have sex? Please tell me you didn’t have sex. This is my bedroom too, you know.” Hyunjin's voice kept getting louder and louder as he spoke, and his eyes were transfixed on Seungmin’s arm that was around Minho’s waist.

“Oh my god.” Minho rubs his eyes and goes to get off the bed, careful not to wake up the sleeping boy beside him. He grabs a random shirt from his closet and pushes everyone out of the bedroom. “Can we please do this outside? Minnie’s still asleep.”

“Minnie.” Jisung chokes on air as he lets himself be pushed into the living room. “Hyung called him Minnie.”

A few moments later, Minho finds himself on the couch surrounded by six boys who couldn’t stop staring at him. He sighs, thinking that it’s gonna be a long night, “So anyone wanna begin?”

Jeongin immediately raises his hand which earns a laugh from Minho. Despite being annoyed at being woken up from his nap, he’s not one to resist from their maknae’s adorable tendencies.

“Are you and Seungminnie hyung dating?”

“Yes.” Minho doesn’t miss a beat, his eyebrow quirking. “Didn’t you guys already know this?”

“No!” Jisung yells before he cowers down at Minho’s pointed look, remembering that Seungmin’s still asleep in their bedroom. “How are we supposed to know that?”

Chan chimes in from where he’s sat cross legged on the floor. “Wait. How long have you been dating?”

“Since the beginning?”

“What do you mean ‘the beginning’?” Changbin squeaks from his spot between Felix’s legs, his hands waving frantically around his face. Jeongin had to move away from his side in case he got hit. “We’ve known each other since _high school_ and you never mentioned a boyfriend to me!”

None of them miss the way Minho’s ears turn a deep shade of red after that. “I meant beginning as in when Seungmin moved here. I was the one who recommended this sharehouse to him, remember?”

“You did?” Felix tilts his head, the confusion on his face mirroring everyone else’s. “Didn’t Hyunjin recommend the sharehouse?”

“No, it was me. I met Seungminnie during orientation when I was putting up flyers for the sharehouse. He asked me if there were rooms available for four people and we got to talking.” Minho’s ears were on fire, the red shade creeping to his neck as well. “I asked him if he wanted to get dinner and we were dating by the time he moved in.”

It was quiet for a moment, everyone taking their time absorbing the information. Hyunjin finally breaks the silence by exclaiming, “That was over _two years ago_! How come you guys ever told us?”

Seungmin took this moment to pad into the living room, his hair ruffled from sleep and a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He stifled a yawn before his eyes met Minho’s. “What’s going on?”

“Minnie.” Minho gestures for him to sit next to him on the couch, the younger boy happily obliged as he immediately snuggled up to Minho’s side. “Have you never told them that we were dating?”

Seungmin lifts his head and blinks his doe eyes at Minho. “I think I did?”

“Oh my god.” Jeongin had his head in his hands, trying to stifle his laughter. “Both of you didn’t tell us anything! We thought you hated each other because you were always fighting!”

Minho frowns at that, his brows furrowing. “We weren’t fighting.”

“Yes you were!” Hyunjin was starting to get hysterical, his mind simply couldn’t wrap around the information that Seungmin and MInho – two people who were always at each other’s throats every single day – were dating for over two years. “You literally fight over every single thing!”

“That’s how we show affection.” Seungmin promptly gets out of Minho’s embrace as the boy goes to smack him, laughing as he pins Minho’s hands down before he gets hit. “But really, I don’t think we ever fought in front of you guys. Trust me, you would know if we were actually fighting.”

Chan was in the middle of rubbing his temples when he remembered something. “During midterm week and you two fought over protein shakes, I overheard Seungmin apologizing to someone on the phone. That was you, Minho? He called you baby!”

“Yes.” Minho grits his teeth, his ears looked like they were about to explode. “I was stressed and let it out on Seungmin, so we apologized and got dinner together after.”

Changbin claps like he was told he’d be graduating tomorrow, his eyes wide and a huge smile on his face. “Seungmin took your violin home when you were tutoring me!” There was a chorus of gasps that followed, everyone aware of how sensitive Minho was when it came to his violin.

“I did.” Seungmin nods. “I get boyfriend privileges so I’m allowed to touch his violin.” Minho only hums in agreement from where he was nuzzling his nose into Seungmin’s hair.

“Cleaning day!” Hyunjin suddenly yells, quickly covering his mouth when he realized how loud he was. “You were sharing food during the movie! Minho hyung even bought Seungmin a smoothie!

“I literally buy you guys smoothies all the-”

Jisung cut him off, his eyes wide as saucers. “You came to campus at 8 in the morning to bring Seungmin coffee when you didn’t have classes until noon!”

Minho looked like he was about to throw something, Seungmin holding down his hands while giggling. “I stayed up late working on a paper and I completely forgot about my 7am.”

“Ramen-” Felix starts, looking thoughtful. “You made hyung ramen and forced him to take a break from his work.”

“He did.” Minho nods, turning to give Seungmin a peck on the cheek. Everyone groaned in response, fully aware that they were gonna be seeing more of this in the future now that Minho and Seungmin’s relationship is out in the open.

“The bus!” Jeongin pointed an accusing finger at the couple sitting on the couch. “You held hands the entire bus ride!”

Seungmin blushes. “You saw that?”

“Wait.” Chan cuts off whatever Jeongin wanted to say. “Why’d you come back early today? And why didn’t you tell us anything?”

Hyunjin joins in, suddenly remembering that he shared a bedroom with a couple. “Did you guys have sex?”

“No!” Minho yelled and Seungmin put a hand over his mouth. “I mean, no sex! But yeah, we came back early because I-”

Seungmin finishes, saving Minho the embarrassment of telling them himself. “He said he missed me, so we agreed to go back early and have some alone time since we know you all come back by late afternoon. And we forgot to tell you because both our phones were dead when we arrived, and we fell asleep.”

No one spoke for a while, everyone slowly coming to terms with the fact that two of their housemates were dating. Chan was the first to stand up, motioning for Felix to follow him. “Well, me and Felix are gonna finish the food so we can eat. Congratulations, by the way.” Chan gives the couple a soft smile. “Even if you’ve been together for a while and never bothered to tell us.”

“To be fair, we never really hid anything.” Minho returns Chan’s smile, tightening his hold around Seungmin, who only hummed from Minho’s side.

“I literally sleep in Minho’s bed every night. I don’t know how Hyunjin never noticed.”

Jeongin snickers. “Maybe because he’s always asleep until noon.” He goes to hide behind Changbin as Hyunjin tries to grab him.

The boys continued to bicker as Felix and Chan went back to the kitchen. Jeongin, Jisung and Changbin were arguing about the Mario Kart game that they abandoned in favor of the gossip – Jeongin whining that he clearly won the game and Jisung claiming that it didn’t matter since they never finished anyway. Hyunjin was already setting up the game console so they could have a rematch.

“Why did you tell them we didn’t have sex today?” Seungmin whispers as the living room dissolves into chaos.

Minho just shrugs. “They don’t need to know that much about our lives. I’m sure they’ll walk in on us at some point anyways. You’re always too loud.”

Seungmin blushes ten shades of scarlet and smacks Minho’s arm as the older boy bursts out laughing. Their conversation is drowned out by Changbin screaming at Jisung to stop cheating and distracting him from the game.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! please feel free to tell me what you think :D im also at twitter @seungsming if anyone wants to talk abt 2min or skz ^_^


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